Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
Thousands honor Virgin of Guadalupe By Jack Smith ecember 12 was the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, an event unmarked and unrecognized by secular society, but one celebrated by tens of thousands of local Catholics with the same enthusiasm and devotion of any great holiday. In churches throughout the Americas and in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Dec. 9 and 12, Catholics retraced the steps and retold the story of Juan Diego and the miraculous image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. On Dec. 9, 1531, a native Mexican laborer who had taken the Christian name, Juan Diego, was walking to Mass when he heard his name called. He walked up the hill, called Tepeyac, where the voice was coming from and beheld a woman who looked like an Aztec princess. She called herself the “Mother of the True God” and asked that a shrine be built in her honor. When told about the message, the local bishop demanded proof. When he later visited the hilltop again at the request of the woman who had also miraculously cured his dying uncle, Juan found beautiful roses growing in the frozen ground. Bundling them in his cloak, Juan brought the flowers to the bishop. When Juan opened his cloak, the bishop saw the miraculous image, now known as Our Lady of Guadalupe. Many miracles have been ascribed to Our Lady under the name of the Virgin of Guadalupe and her image is now housed in a Basilica on the site where she appeared to Juan Diego near Mexico City. Tests by numerous scientists over the years have failed to explain how the image was made or what it is even composed of. The image of Our Lady appearing as an Aztec woman superceding the symbols of the Aztec deities, along with the persistent witness of Juan Diego, resulted in the baptism of nine million native Mexicans in only ten years. Our Lady of Guadalupe is now not only the Patroness of Mexico, but the Patroness of all the Americas and her shrine is the second most visited church in the world after St. Peter’s and the Vatican. Pope John Paul II had great devotion to her, visiting the Shrine four times in his pontificate, beatifying and canonizing Juan Diego and erecting a shrine to her in St. Peter’s.
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Catholics pray in the small chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE, page 6
Human rights must be respected, pope says in World Peace Day message By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Even in the midst of war, basic human rights must be respected and all parties involved must work to end hostilities, Pope Benedict XVI said in his message for World Peace Day 2006. International humanitarian law is “binding on all
peoples” even in times of war, he said in his message for the Jan. 1 day of prayer. Pope Benedict’s message, “In Truth, Peace,” was released Dec. 13 at the Vatican. The pope began his message, which is distributed to heads of state around the world, by offering his best wish-
es to all people of good will, “especially those who are suffering as a result of violence and armed conflict.” “My greeting is one filled with hope for a more serene world, a world in which more and more individuals and communities are committed to the paths of justice and peace,” Pope Benedict wrote. WORLD PEACE DAY, page 3
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION News-in-brief . . . . . . . . . . 4-5 Immigration issues. . . . . . . . 8
Fourth Sunday of Advent Dec. 18
Scripture and Reflection
Vatican II Anniversary Part 2
~ Page 15 ~ ~ Pages 18-19 ~
C.S. Lewis on ‘Xmas’ . . . . . 10 Christmas Liturgies. . . . 11-14 Commentary & Letters . . 16-17 Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Catholic imagination. . . . . . 21
www.catholic-sf.org December 16, 2005
SIXTY CENTS
VOLUME 7
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No. 39